Dave's 1650 Project
 

A brief introduction:

This is my first tractor. When I decided I wanted to get a tractor, I started shopping the basic $300-400 tractors on Craigslist. I would have probably wound up with some variation of an MTD product.

But as I shopped, I'd check forums such as OCC to learn about what I was looking at. Then I came across the restoration threads, and I was inspired.

I've always been pretty good with a wrench, but for the last few decades I've kind of backed off from my mechanical work. Got busy in the corporate world, paid for the work on my cars, etc.

My interest in wrenching has been rekindled, and I started thinking I couldn't settle for a stamped-tin tractor. So I started looking for a project.

At first, I was looking at the JD's. Mostly because they're so ubiquitous. But then I came across a Cub Cadet 1250 in my shopping, and even though I didn't buy it (probably should have) the Cub's became a fascination with me. As I continued reading, I determined that a 1450 or 1650 would be my ideal project tractor.

Then I found this 1650 on Craigslist. No pictures, but the ad said it was complete, had spark, turned over, but needed work. It was listed at $400.

I traveled 1.5 hrs to see it, and was surprised to find my destination at a salvage yard. Someone had junked this great tractor. I was able to pick it up for $300.

http://www.michiganmartins.net/image.../DSCN1911a.jpg

This restoration thread is to share my journey in the project, and to ask questions and learn from the vast experience of the members. You'll see that I'm a complete noob at many things, but I'm resourceful. :) If I get good instruction, I can do it.

I'll be interested in all the help and advice I can get, so let's get started!

welcome aboard Dave! Looks like a great starting point for a restoration!

:American Flag 1:

My 3 year old Assistant Mechanic, Ryan, is ready to go. He was actually part of my reason to start this project. You can't raise a kid that doesn't know how to work on his own stuff. :)


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So the mechanic dude at the salvage yard told me that he had fired it up with starting fluid, and that it was shooting fire out the exhaust. Stuck exhaust valve, he figured.

The left side footrest had been damaged by a forklift at the salvage yard.

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Here's the control panel:


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And the hour meter. I'm reading just over 360. It was manufactured in January 1978 according to the S/N, and I think it's been sitting somewhere for quite a while, so this is probably about it. I'm not thinking it's rolled over: (edit 7/9/2011 - I now think its pretty certain that it was rolled over, as I dug into the project and learned more.)

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Now the ugly part - the deck. No rust through, except for the belt cover, but it's got a lot of rust underneath, and the center spindle is frozen. With luck, it's just the pulley rusted to the deck and the bearings are fine. The other two seem solid:

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Good looking tractor Dave. You've come to the right place when it comes to a great group who knows their Cub's.
They've helped me out so much in the last year. They are a world of knowledge, and a pretty good bunch:beerchug:

So I decided to tear into that deck first. Pulled off the cover and found a mess inside:

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Got that cleaned up a little:

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Removing these hangers presented a problem. Once I got them loosened up a little, the carriage bolt wanted to start spinning in its hole. That can't be good. So I found I could grab them with the tips of a vise-grip and hold them while I got the rusty nuts off.

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Then it came down to the spindles. I didn't have big enough wrenches to break these nuts. Standard 1/2" drive sockets and an adjustable wrench wouldn't do the trick. The blades were junk anyway, so I decided to break out the side grinder with a cutting wheel. I wanted to get that frozen center spindle out first. So I cut the blade off so I could get it through the hole, then cut the nuts off the spindle mount. Here it is after surgery:

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I needs more tools. So today I went to my Dad's shed (he passed away last year) and picked up his 6" vise, as well as some bigger wrenches. Once I get this vise mounted, I'll be able to clamp this spindle in and torque on it.

I'm considering picking up a sandblaster. It's something I've never done but have wanted to learn. But I called a local pro the other day and he said $40 for a mower deck. I think I might take it to him, and maybe acquire a small sandblaster for myself for the smaller stuff. Although, I've taken keen interest in the threads I've read about electrolytic cleaning. I picked up some metal rod from Dad's shed to build one. I'll experiment with it a little and post the progress here.

Welcome to OCC Dave. You have a great looking 1650 that I am sure is going to be top notch in no time at all. Looking forward to your future posts and pics. Check out our technical library for service manuals and Kohler engine manual. For reference your 1650 is called a Quiet Line series or QL. It is a wide frame which makes it quite easy to work on. Feel free to ask questions.

:Welcome2:


Great looking 1650!


Nice find! :ThumbsUp:

:Welcome2: Dave! Congrats on your 1650! :beerchug:

Next step was to go after that stuck valve issue and to rebuild the carburetor. So I pulled off the hood and grill assembly:

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Found a mouse nest between the muffler and the fans, as well as leaves. Can you say FIRE?

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Carb is off. I'm 99% certain I'm going to have problems getting that linkage back together. :bash2:

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Popped the cylinder head, this is a shot at the underside of it:

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You can see exhaust valve stuck open. I tapped it down with a rubber mallet, turned the crank and it stuck again. Repeated 3-4 times, and it started functioning on its own.

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Here's a look inside. The cylinder walls actually look great. The picture makes it look bad because it's reflecting the carbon on the piston:

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I started cleaning the top of the piston. This is my first time here, so I started with a rag and gas. Then I moved up to fine steel wool with gas. This is a picture of it half-cleaned. I did more and got it looking pretty good. Then I started reading and found that oven cleaner works well. I'm going to get some of that to tackle the valves.

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Here's a view of the valves. I *think* they look pretty good, but again I'm a noob on this stuff. Once I get the valves and the seats cleaned up, I'll have a better idea.

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BTW, I got tripped up on watching that exhaust valve as I spun the crank. It goes up all the way one cycle, then up just a little on the next. Then I had an "a-ha" moment when I remembered reading about the compression relief they built into these Kohlers to make starting easier. That's the little open I'm seeing, right? (edit 7/18/11 - yep, it was the compression relief)


One more pic of the underside of the head, partially cleaned:

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After I get these valves and such cleaned, clean and rebuild the carb, the new head gasket (on order) should be here in a few days. We'll put the motor back together, change the oil, and fire it up. Fingers crossed... (edit 7/18/11 - never did put it together and start it up. As you'll see later, I went on to a full rebuild)

But I won't be putting the tractor back together at that point. Next step is to pull the motor and go to work on those ISO mounts. I'm going to do the crossbar mod while I'm in there.

Thanks guys, for the welcomes and the vote of confidence in my purchase! I had been scouring Craigslist for a month, even to the point where I sat up RSS feeds and employed a reader to keep me up to date every five minutes. So when I saw this one, I was pretty sure I had found my tractor.

DX3, thanks to all the great info I've read here, I already sourced both the owners and technical service manuals for the tractor and the K341. That's my style, read first, wrench second. :) Lots of sites trying to charge $10-$20 for the Cub Cadet manuals, but with a little digging I found them free.

BTW, I keep getting Google hits on a site that looked like it had great material, but the site was always down. I think it was called "IHresource.com" or something like that. I'm sure you guys are familiar with it. Is it defunct?